Prologue
“I’m so sorry, I missed you so much big sister!”
“I missed you too.”
Behind the embracing princesses a pink pony sniffled and finally burst into tears, torrents of water cascading from her eyes. A moment later, as quickly as it had started, she stopped and her expression changed to one of unbridled happiness.
“Hey you know what this calls for? A party!”
Two of the assembled ponies chuckled to themselves as the other three made a less than impressed face at their easy going friend. Still the idea was a good one. Slowly each of them turned towards the exit, only one giving pause to look back at the two princesses.
“Princess?” she asked slowly, unsure on whether she should be interfering with such a joyous reunion.
“Go ahead Twilight, we will join you shortly,” replied the white mare as she rested her head against her sister.
Twilight gave a small smile and nodded before making her way out of the room to join her other friends. For a moment a silence fell upon the room as the two princesses rested against each other. Celestia looked down at her sister, the sudden expulsion of the nightmare power that had absorbed her leaving her looking frail and weak. Still no matter what she looked like it was still her sister, her dear sister. Once more she felt her eyes welling with tears as she pulled her sister closer to her.
“Tia, I’m so sorry…” murmured Luna as she felt the embrace tighten.
“Hush dear sister, you have nothing to be sorry for,” cooed Celestia, her tone more motherly than sisterly, “It is I that should be apologising. I never meant for you to feel the way you did. I never meant to send you away for so long. I should have seen it coming and done something…I should have…”
She stopped, her vision looking up at the smouldering pieces of black armour that littered the floor not a few feet away. She felt something inside her erupt, a hatred and rage that she had held still and silent in fear of what she might do if it was released. Slowly she released her grip on Luna and stood up.
“Tia?” whimpered Luna quietly as she saw the look of rage building on her sister’s face.
Celestia didn’t reply, instead her vision was locked on the smouldering chunks before her, “You…”
She took a step forwards, the tip of her horn starting to glow with a pure white light. All around her the air seemed to shimmer and crackle and weeds that grew between the brickwork of the old castle began to char. Luna shuffled backwards, the sudden heat that radiated from her sister slowly singing the tips of her mane.
“Long ago I swore that the darkness would never consume another pony, I swore that I would protect everypony! And yet I couldn’t even protect my own sister when the time came. On that day you took something more dear to me than anypony can imagine, not just my sister but every shred of self-respect I had. I spent a thousand years searching for the one I hoped would be able to stop you for good and she succeeded…now all that is left is to finish the job I started over three thousand years ago…be gone forever!”
As fresh tears streamed down her face a beam of pure white light flew from her horn towards the fragments. As it struck the entire area was wreathed in flames, white hot fire springing from every surface as Celestia’s magic brought the full fury of the sun to bear. Luna screamed as the heat threatened to overtake her but another scream quickly overtook hers. It was shrill and loud, never ceasing as the flames began to turn the fragments into nothing but burnt particles. Celestia didn’t relent, the flames continuing even as the exhaustion of her spell threatened to consume her. As she felt herself reach her limit the screaming stopped, suddenly falling silent amongst the roar of the fire. For a moment Celestia continued to spell but as the silence continued she slowly let herself relax. The flames died back and her horn returned to its normal appearance as she sunk to her knees panting heavily.
Slowly she felt a hoof wrap around her shoulder as Luna made her way to her side, “Is…is it done?”
Celestia gave a small nod, “I am sorry Luna…I’ve failed again.”
“You did what you had to Tia, we can finally close this chapter of our long life.”
“I wish it didn’t have to end like this, I wish there was more I could have done.”
“We both know where it would end if you didn’t…”
“Yes…oh Luna, of all the ponies it had to take why did it have to be him?”
Celestia found more tears flowing down her cheek and Luna was quick to bring her sister into a firm embrace.
“Our life has always been one of sacrifice Tia, nothing will ever change that. From the moment we were created until the moment our magic finally fades we will forever lead that life…but you no longer have to lead it alone.”
“Thank you Luna.”
“No, thank you Tia…for not giving up on me…”
For a moment a silence existed that neither sister wanted to break, both of them lost in a flood of memories from years gone by. At length Celestia finally rose to her hooves and looked towards the doorway.
“Come Luna, Twilight and her friends will be waiting for us…and we finally have a cause to celebrate.”
Luna didn’t reply as she fell into step beside her sister, each of them wrapping a wing around the other as they left the room. As the hoofsteps began to fade away a tiny flicker crept from a small crack in the stone work. It was barely a puff, smaller even than a young foal trying to start a fire with a pair of twigs, but it was there. The black wisp shook and flickered, wavering back and forth like an injured animal. No sound permeated the room as it stopped its forward advance and slowly slunk back into the crack in the wall.